Charter schools, autonomy, and teacher unions...

 There are three premises on which all charter school operate:

Autonomy, Accountability, and Choice.

Therefore, autonomy matters for charter schools. It is the autonomy not only in human resources but also in curriculum, unique, innovative programs and opportunities that they offer to their students, financial management, school calendar, facility, and much more…

Unless charter schools have autonomy over their staff, the rest of the autonomy given to them by the state becomes less meaningful and effective. They are able to utilize all the autonomy that they have in curriculum, programs, budget, calendar, and facility only when autonomy over their staff exist. Staff is the most critical component in their success hence the autonomy over human resources.
Charter schools are underfunded. Yet they are expected to be more successful than the traditional public schools, which in most cases they are, under a huge financial disparity. This disparity varies between 15 % and 40% throughout the country. Charter schools can pay salaries only up to the limit of their income, which is determined entirely by their enrollment. Therefore, what they can pay their teachers is limited due to this disparity. This inequality in funding requires autonomy in determination of their compensation structure from the financial perspective.

Most charter schools are small by design, managed site-based, and swift in making changes to staffing, scheduling, and programs in pursuit of effectiveness. Management must be able to make those changes that they deem necessary quickly and effectively. However, since schools are small, their managements are able to include teachers in such decision-making processes so teacher voice is heard. Most charter schools have structures that foster teamwork and allow teacher voice in the decisions process. However, onerous labor agreements and bureaucratic processes that hamper autonomy, innovation, and independence do not bind the school managements.

Basically, when the teacher union is in, the autonomy goes out to window… autonomy of the management in running their schools, as they deem necessary for better results.

Another component is accountability…charter schools are accountable to the state, their authorizers, and ultimately to the public. If they do not perform they lose their charter, they lose their school… This accountability flows through the capillaries of the school to students, parents, and teachers. As their managements know that they may lose their school if they do not perform, their teachers know that they may not be there next year if they do not perform either. Because most charter schools offer annual contracts. However, those contracts include due process, evaluations, and opportunities to grow, too.

Both administrative and teaching staff at charter schools have to go above and beyond to ensure that their students succeed. Their staff has that commitment and dedication from the get go and they have autonomy in materializing such commitment…some stay after school, some come to school over the weekends, during their Christmas break, or summer, some open their homes for students for support, some go to the kids homes, some organize trips and out of school activities, some design projects with them and spend time with them at universities….

We can not prescribe what that dedication means for charter school staff and how they can show it…Their success, particularly in urban environments, depends on management’s, and teachers’ relationship with students, parents, and communities…we cannot contractualize that relationship…schools are not car factories.

Many of the core ideas of charter schooling come from the disciplines of economics, business, and political science, one of which is site based management and putting this small group of individuals that we call board of directors totally in charge in running the school. Charter schools are schools of choice for students as well as teachers so teachers are choosing their work environment. Teachers have market power and cant be ignored. There is a trade off between money and job satisfaction….

Teacher unions use their unmatched political power to control every aspect of education, which leads to a system that protects the interest of employees at the expense of our children. Union’s effort to unionize charter schools is nothing more than their hunger for political power. Why don’t they let the teachers choose the environment that they want to work in?

If teachers in a charter school want to organize they always have that right to do so…but why an active campaign and recruitment as to “we have to unionize all the charters because our political power is waning.” That to me is pursuing a political interest rather than the interest of teachers and students. I am not sure if it is true or not but there is a perception that one of the union president once said “we will represent students when they start paying dues…”

Charter schools are here to represent the students without dues…let them do it…